-House of Lords Spiritual peers - Forms and cere- OF The English Government CHAPTER I THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT REFERENCES: Todd's Parliamentary Government in Englund, i. 1-8; Dicey's Law of the Constitution, 37-81; Anson's Law and Custom of the Constitution, i. 33-41; May's Parliamentary Practice, 1-35; Bagehot's English Constitution, 1-67; Courtney's Working Constitution of the United Kingdom, 3-23; Creasy's English Constitution, 1-11. ENGLAND has taken the lead in solving the problem of constitutional government; of government, that is, with authority, but limited by law, controlled by opinion, and respecting personal right and freedom. This she has done for the world, and herein lies the world's chief interest in her history." These are the opening words of Goldwin Smith's recent and brilliant work, "The United Kingdom." These two sentences set forth admirably the great debt which the world owes to the English people. As we note the progress of civilisation from its beginnings on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, we are led to the conclusion that every nation has made its peculiar contribution to this progress. Each seems to have contributed something to those forces which tend to civilise, — something to the |